Lot 182
Alfred-Émile-Léopold Stevens (Belgian, active in France, 1823-1906), "Academy Study of a Male Nud$E", May 11, 1844, graphite on white paper, signed and dated lower right, 23 5/8 in. x 15 in., float-mounted on an original French mat board inscribed by the artist at lower right D'aprés Nature atelier [Camille] Roqueplan 1844/AS [in monogram]. Note : It is a truism that in the case of nudes drawn at life classes in studios or at academic institutions, an artist's mature style is often insufficiently emphasized (in favor of the generic manner endemic to such exercises). The pose of this heavily bearded figure seems to have left a permanent impression on Stevens - who in 1844 was only twenty-one years old. The attitude of this studio model (shown with his posing stick, a step support, and a hint of an isolating sheet set up behind him) is virtually identical with Stevens' fine full-length ink portrait drawing of Madame Eugène Montrosier, inscribed and dated at Paris in 1878: the only substantive diffe ence between them is that Mme. Montrosier's right hand is brought up to her chest, to hold a muff. Such a congruence of pose, stretching across more than thirty years, is certainly unusual, and testifies to Stevens' intense concentration in the rendering of this sheet. References: Jean-Luc Baroni and Stephen Ongpin, An Exhibition of Master Drawings, London and New York, Colnaghi's, 1998, no. and pl. 47; Bernadette Thomas, ""Alfred-Émile Léopold Stevens,"" Grove Dictionary of Art, Jane Turner, ed., 34 vols., London, 1996, vol. 29, p. 645."
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